Safe swimming event held at start of Water Safety Month
MIAMI -- Isabella is learning how to save herself by looking for a ledge when she falls in the pool.
Her mom Carolina Velez says her daughter already took swimming lessons, but this is another layer of protection.
"You can never overly prepare them I feel," Velez said. So we feel she knew the basics. But they just did a whole assessment on her so now we know how to help her focus on better areas of opportunity."
She's one of many parents who took their kids to the summer splash safety event at the Ocaquatics Swim School. Each kid got an assessment of their water safety skills. Velez says that's important since school will be out soon.
"We know there's pools everywhere parties," Velez said. "Birthday parties. Especially now that the summer is coming up. I have a seven-year-old and a four-year-old."
Zulma Berrios lost her niece to drowning, so she spoke to parents about how vital this kind of training is since drowning can be quick and quiet.
"It's a very quick silent event, that you may not know what's happening to you," Berrios said.
She's the Chief Medical Officer at West Kendall Baptist Hospital. On top of this training, she says Baptist is awarding 100 scholarships for swimming lessons for children.
Data from the Florida Office of Children and Families shows that at least 97 children drowned in the last year. The goal of this program and the scholarships are to bring that number down to zero.